Lead Magazine Features Western & Southern’s 130th Anniversary
Since selling its first life insurance policy on
"The company is 10 times as big as the company I joined and its net worth is 20 times larger," says Western & Southern Chairman, President and CEO
"In 1888, we were a human institution serving human needs and that's still the case today," says Barrett. "We started changing in 1982 from only selling insurance and diversified in order to become a great provider of financial services. What started out as a life insurance company is only about 30 percent of what we do now." In addition to diversifying, Barrett credits breaking into the Fortune 500 by successfully changing the organization's culture.
"About 30 years ago we had a very laid-back culture, which worked for the business environment at the time. But we needed to make it a far more exhilarating place to work," explains Barrett. "We needed to make it faster-paced in order to attract the top talent. We started by revamping our human resource department who then helped re-staff the company. "We wanted smart, hardworking and honest people who showed no 'AGE' - arrogance, greed or ego."
After conquering the daunting task of reinventing the company's culture, Western & Southern intensified its focus on bettering
"Giving back is in our DNA," says
One of Western & Southern's first acts of community service was sponsoring the Christmas nativity scene at
"It has moved to
"Since then, we now sponsor Walk MS, the
Barrett believes the developments and growth of
"There are great housing opportunities there and it's between the two big economic power houses of the region: the hospitals and downtown," says Barrett. "The area between them is a natural place for people to live, making their commute a matter of minutes. I believe the more attractive we can make our city, the more likely we are to continue to attract the best and brightest people to work here."
According to Barrett,
"We know we need to develop far more tech talent in order to attract more companies," says Barrett. "Our area's biggest shortfall is not doing a better job at training people to work with technology. We also need this talent as we work on earning the
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